Nuri al-Maliki Fast Facts

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Updated 4:41 PM ET, Fri July 3, 2015

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gives a joint press conference with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (unseen) in Baghdad about the situation in Iraq and Syrian on January 13, 2014 during the latter's two day visit to Iraq.

(CNN)Here's a look at the life of the former Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki.

1979-1980 - When he is sentenced to death for opposing Saddam Hussein and the Baathist party, al-Maliki flees Iraq and finds refuge in Iran and later Syria.

2003 - Returns to Iraq from Syria.

2003-2004 - Member of the de-Baathification Commission, which works to rid former Baathists from Iraq's military and government.

January 2005 - Is elected to the new parliament as a member of the Dawa Party and serves as the head of the Security and Defense Committee of the National Assembly.

April 22, 2006 - Is chosen by the Shiite-dominated coalition United Iraqi Alliance to replace Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He has one month to form a government.

May 20, 2006 - Iraq's new government is sworn in, with 37 cabinet members and al-Maliki as prime minister.

July 26, 2006 - Addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on the war in Iraq.

October 27, 2006 - Meets with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, telling him he considers himself "a friend of the U.S., but [he's] not America's man in Iraq."

January 2, 2007 - States in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, "I wish I could be done with it even before the end of this term.. I didn't want to take this position... I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest, and I will not accept it again."

June 7, 2008 - Arrives in Iran to talk with top Iranian officials about issues including alleged Iranian-backed insurgents.

February 2009 - Al-Maliki's State of Law coalition wins a plurality in 9 of the 14 provinces that held elections.

March 7, 2010 - Parliamentary elections for Iraq's second full-term legislature. The main rival to the State of Law coalition which includes al-Maliki's Dawa Party, is the Iraqiya coalition headed by former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

June 10, 2012 - Al-Maliki survives the threat of a no-confidence vote by parliament when President Talabani announces that there is not enough support for the vote. Al-Maliki's opponents accuse him of monopolizing power.

June 21, 2012 - Osama al-Nujaifi, speaker of parliament, announces that al-Maliki will be asked to appear before parliament in a continued effort to oust him.

January 4, 2014 - Al-Maliki vows to crush the insurgency in Anbar province, where the Sunni insurgency -- al Qaeda in Iraq -- flourished following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. "There will be no withdrawal," al-Maliki says in a speech carried by Al-Arabiya.

April 30, 2014 - Al-Maliki's party wins 92 seats in parliamentary elections, short of the 165 seats needed for a majority.

June 14, 2014 - Al-Maliki directs troops to make their stand against advancing Sunni militants in Samarra, home to a revered Shiite mosque. The order comes as al-Maliki seeks to put new fire in the belly of his troops in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria -- an al Qaeda splinter group known as ISIS -- that has seized a large swath of land in the north of the country and threatens to advance on the capital.

August 11, 2014 - President Fuad Masum appoints Haider al-Abadi as prime minister of Iraq, replacing a defiant Nuri al-Maliki with a member of his own party, despite al-Maliki's pronouncement earlier in the day that he intends to stay in office for a third term. The new Prime Minister-nominee, al-Abadi, is the deputy speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and a former aide to al-Maliki.

September 8, 2014 - Al-Maliki is appointed vice president by the Iraqi parliament. He is one of the country's three vice presidents, serving alongside a secular Shiite, Ayad Allawi and a Sunni, Osama Nujaifi.